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Science and Technical Advisory Committee

The Division of Water Supply Protection’s DWSP Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) has completed a review of the scientific principles that guide existing Land Management Plan objectives for the Office of Watershed Management.

The STAC report was presented to a joint meeting of the Quabbin Watershed and Ware River Watershed Advisory Committees on December 10, 2012. DCR accepted comments on the report until January 18, 2013. Comments Received

DCR presented its Response to Forest Heritage Planning Process and the Science and Technical Advisory Committee to a joint meeting of the Quabbin Watershed and Ware River Watershed Advisory Committees on February 12, 2013.Comments Receivedfile size 1MBResponse to Comments Received

The first meeting of the Quabbin Science and Technical Advisory Committee was assembled in the fall of 1996. This committee included professional forest, wildlife, and natural resource researchers and managers from several University of Massachusetts departments, Harvard Forest, the USDA Forest Service, Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College, the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, US Geological Survey, Massachusetts Audubon Society, the New England Small Farms Institute, the MA Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, Hampshire College, and several state agencies. Other scientists were added over time.

The committee was formed to convene, as needed, to address major natural resources and watershed management issues, changes in the Quabbin Reservoir Land Management Plan, and to advise the agency in the development and implementation of scientific research at Quabbin Reservoir. The committee was intended to function as the “bridge” between professional research and management. The committee met annually from 1996 through 2000, and sub-groups have been called upon occasionally to address current issues. In addition to general advice, the committee assisted in:

Setting research priorities

Developing standards for research quality assurance and control

Subwatershed modeling

Determining appropriate sizes for regeneration openings

Designing lands reserved from management

Developing management considerations for the Pottapaug Natural Area

Developing a policy for the treatment of watershed areas affected by the hemlock woolly adelgid.

STAC was re-convened in 2010 and is chaired by Dr. Paul Barten, Professor of Forest Resources at UMass Amherst. Dr. Barten’s background is in hydrology and forest management; he has chaired the STAC meetings in the past and is intimately familiar with DCR and other watersheds and their management. In addition to STAC, he has served on National Research Council (NRC) committees assessing the New York City water supply and Atlantic salmon in Maine, and recently chaired the NRC committee assessing hydrologic effects of a changing forest landscape.